Green Housing Takes Root in Oregon

baldinux writes "I was reading an article in the Portland Tribune which showcased the City of Portland's noteworthy 'Rose House' (1.8mb PDF) project, part of the Office of Sustainable Development and Oregon Department of Energy's plan to encourage sustainable, energy-producing, environmentally-friendly housing for the future, a plan which is gaining national and international attention. The Rose House, at only 800 square feet (approx. 244 sq. meters), is equipped with solar panels and incorporates technologies that recapture lost heat and energy during normal appliance operation, such as ventilation. During peak hours -- when power is at highest demand -- the Rose House could produce surplus energy, feeding kilowatt hours back to the power grid, and `rolling back' the meter -- the power authority's way of purchasing the surplus energy and lessening the burden on comparatively 'dirty' power plants. The article suggests that homes like this could see net power bills as low as $0 per year. The environmental benefits of a lessened burden on centralized, often fossil fuel or nuclear, power generation plants would be considerable."

Comments

How many times must it be said?

[EmagGeek]

The energy cost of creating a photovoltaic cell far surpasses the energy extracted from that cell over its lifetime.

No, this is not a conservation of energy argument (everyone knows the energy doesn't come from the cell itself, so it's not an issue of putting energy in and getting that same energy out).
It's the simple fact that it takes a lot of energy to grow a photovoltaic cell. You can get energy from a cell for about 30-40 years, but even over that long period of time, you still won't get out as much energy as was expended to create it...

Re:live in a smaller house, driving a smaller car.

[maxpublic]

I think the problem is overconsumption, especially by Americans, and that is the issue addressed by the original article.

The idea of overconsumption is facetious. There is no 'overconsumption', just 'consumption'. The fact that Americans are considerably more wealthy than most of the rest of the world doesn't mean that they're 'overconsuming' anything.

People who scream about American use of resources are operating on jealousy, and nothing more. Their envy is translated into ridiculous arguments about 'American greed' and how we should somehow be punished because we have more wealth than any other nation around. That coming to our country and looting the wealth we've built in order to distribute it to others is somehow more 'fair' if the thieves chant "for the greater good" while they're making off with property that doesn't belong to them.

And it's damned amusing, when you think about it. The people who would force us to give up most of our wealth (if they had the military might to do so) are the very same people who berate us for interfering in the sovereignty of other nations. The hypocrisy of these conflicting views never seems to dawn on their tiny minds....

Max